


Make Friends You Can Hang Onto For Your Whole Life

by MadBiscuitLady



Series: These Old Feelings [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1990s, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awkwardness, Gen, childhood cuteness, itty bitty baby reiberts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-16
Updated: 2016-06-16
Packaged: 2018-07-15 09:41:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7217341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadBiscuitLady/pseuds/MadBiscuitLady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first day of school is always stressful.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The First Day of School is Always Stressful

**Author's Note:**

> I uploaded this to tumblr ages ago, but never put it up here.

You're six years old. It's the first day of Kindergarten and the teacher has you all sitting on a colorful mat on the floor in a circle. You're going to go around and introduce yourselves. You're nervous, somehow even though these kids are all the same age as you, you're scared to really talk to them. You're not sure why. Maybe it's the whole being put on the spot thing, you don't know. 

You don't really have time to dwell on this though as it's suddenly your turn to speak.

“Uh...my name is Bertholdt and uh...” You grasp for anything you can think of to say about yourself, your mind is blank so you say the first thing that pops into your head, “yesterday I lost a tooth!” There. You've done it. Mission accomplished.

The blonde boy sitting next to you nudges you with his elbow. Your head jerks over to him, surprised by the unexpected contact. He's got a short bowl cut, and some harsh facial features. Going on looks alone, this kid seems like he'd steal your lunch money. There's a lump forming in your throat.

“Me too,” He hooks his index finger into the corner of his mouth to expose his own missing tooth. He smiles, “I'm Reiner. Nice to meetcha.” 

You don't know what else to say, so you swallow the lump in your throat and just smile back. Well at least he doesn't seem mean.

You don't interact with Reiner again until playtime. You decided that you could play with the blocks, or maybe build something with Lincoln Logs, that's when Reiner finds you again. 

“Wanna play?” He's holding a set of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle figures. Oh man, you love the turtles! Suddenly, your reluctant Lincoln Log plans fall by the wayside. 

“Okay.” 

“Who do you want to be? I'm gonna be Leo.” 

“Donatello.” Donnie was always your favorite. 

Reiner smiles and you proceed to have the best TMNT playtime ever. It feels like it's over far too quickly and you're feeling pretty down about that. 

Reiner puts a hand on your shoulder. “We should be friends.” He beams, the gap from his missing tooth in full view.

You've never had a friend before. “Okay I guess,” Did you need to ask permission before you made friends? You probably should, just to be on the safe side. “I'll have to ask my mom...”

Reiner seems pretty satisfied with that response. “Yeah!” He cheers, clearly overjoyed by the prospect of your friendship.

When your mom comes to pick you up, you tell her all about it. She laughs and reassures you that of course you can be friends with Reiner.

And so begins a memorable friendship.


	2. The First Time Visiting A Friend's House is Always an Adventure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 6-year-old Bertholdt goes over to his new friend Reiner's house for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I guess I'll post any stories that take place around the same point in the time line as additional chapters, and anything that occurs later in their lives as a separate story in the series. So right now, this is the early years. Then later on will be the high school years and so on and so forth. Yeah, that sounds good.

The first time you go over to Reiner's house, you don't really know what to expect. Least of all his fluffy golden retriever Rosie greeting you at the back door, ecstatic about a new person in the house. She licks your face with her big, pink tongue, tail wagging merrily, not a care in the world. 

You're frozen in place. Logically you know this dog is friendly, but you're also unaccustomed to this kind of attention. The only pet you're familiar with is your old black and white spotted cat, Skuffles. He was also the epitome of a lap cat, sometimes he'd take advantage of this and you'd catch him nibbling on the ends of your peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while you watched cartoons.

“She likes you!” Reiner grins. Rosie turns her attention to him at the sound of his voice, and greets him with the same enthusiasm in return.

Reiner is the middle child of the Braun clan. He had one older brother Marcel, who was 9, and a little sister Annie, who was 3. Mrs. Braun is what you would come to feel as the embodiment of one of those perfect sitcom moms. She juggled her career, her husband, and her kids with effortless ease. As an only child, you kind of liked the hustle and bustle of the Braun household, and they were quick to treat you as a surrogate 4th child in turn.

“Wanna play video games?” 

“Okay!” 

He leads you down the the steps into the basement. Whoa, Reiner has a Super Nintendo AND a Sega Genesis? You still have an NES, which is really your dad's NES. Apparently your parents are pretty competitive when it comes to Tetris.

Reiner plops down on the big dusty blue woven throw rug and pulls out a drawer full of games. He thumbs through them before selecting Sonic the Hedgehog. You've only played Sonic for a few minutes at the Toy's R Us store since they had a demo set up, so you're not feeling too confident.

Luckily, after a few missteps, you've more or less grasped the controls and are genuinely having a good time. 

Reiner also has what you are convinced must be every last Teenage Mutant Ninja turtle action figure on the market. Maybe some of them used to be his older brother's, you guess that's possible. He even had the sewer hideout and the Technodrome, but the coolest thing Reiner had, was a treehouse in his backyard. 

Since the Braun's house bordered a wooded area it really felt like you were up among the trees. You had never seen a treehouse outside of TV and movies before. Once you both climb up the ladder, Reiner opens a wooden toy chest and pulls out a pirate hat and a telescope. 

“I'll be the captain, you're my first mate!” He plops the hat on his head and grins, revealing the gap where one of his baby teeth had fallen out. “Let's find some treasure!”

A couple hours later, you've both sunk several enemy ships, and uncovered the lost treasure of Davy Jones, when your mother arrives to take you home.

While your mom is chatting with Mrs. Braun before you go, Reiner places something in your hand.

“You should have this.” 

It's a button of Donatello from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. You look up at Reiner in surprise. He just grins. 

“Donatello is your favorite right? You always want to play as him.” 

“Y-yeah, thanks Reiner!” You smile back at him, all sunshine and rainbows. Its the first time someone who isn't a relative has given you a gift. 

Once you're all strapped in the car and your mother begins pulling out of the driveway, you look back and spot Reiner in the window. He grins and waves at you watching you go. You smile and wave back. 

All you can think about is how you can't wait until you both can play together again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reiner is that one friend with all the cool stuff that you were never bored with because you never ran out of things to do. 
> 
> He probably also had those stupid purple moon shoes that I saw abandoned in every friend's garage over the years. Did anyone ever play with those things? I never saw a single kid actively use those things. They were always covered in cobwebs on a shelf in a garage or thrown haphazardly in a corner of someone's basement like the disappointment they were.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't remember who my favorite turtle was growing up. I did have a plushie of Leonardo that I won at a fair when I was 3/4 and carried him everywhere, but I don't think it was because it was Leo as much as it was I just really loved the turtles. 
> 
> I intend to do a series of little stories of them growing up together over the years. This is the first (chronologically) in their friendship. I'm not necessarily writing them in chronological order though.


End file.
